Summary
January 2015 was part of Iceland's winter season, prime time for northern lights and ice cave tours. Foreign guests recorded 137,616 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 99,599 in January 2014—a +38.2% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 50.0%, up 6.6 percentage points from 43.4% in 2014. Foreign card spending totaled 7.3 billion ISK (+32.6% YoY).
January 2015 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through January, reached 137,616, up 38.2% on the same period of 2014. Within 2015, January ranked 12th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for January over the five preceding years, this month came in ahead by 116.9%.
United Kingdom was the largest source market with 43.7% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 69.8%. Hotel occupancy of 50.0% means that share of available rooms was sold across the month; this is typical of Iceland's low season, when many rural hotels close and demand concentrates in Reykjavík. Spending figures are foreign card turnover reported by the Central Bank and exclude cash and purchases made before arrival.
Foreign Overnight Stays by Source Market
The top source markets for January 2015, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2015 | Nights 2014 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 60,120 | 43,794 | +37.3% | 43.7% |
| 2 | United States of America | 27,240 | 18,940 | +43.8% | 19.8% |
| 3 | Germany | 8,702 | 5,558 | +56.6% | 6.3% |
| 4 | France | 5,872 | 3,787 | +55.1% | 4.3% |
| 5 | Japan | 5,804 | 4,023 | +44.3% | 4.2% |
| 6 | Sweden | 3,932 | 5,565 | -29.3% | 2.9% |
| 7 | Denmark | 3,679 | 2,962 | +24.2% | 2.7% |
| 8 | Netherlands | 3,672 | 1,855 | +98.0% | 2.7% |
| 9 | Norway | 2,855 | 3,216 | -11.2% | 2.1% |
| 10 | Canada | 2,560 | 1,263 | +102.7% | 1.9% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for January 2015:
| Region | Occupancy 2015 | Occupancy 2014 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 72.7% | 59.3% | +13.4 pp |
| Total | 50.0% | 43.4% | +6.6 pp |
| Reykjanes | 37.3% | 32.9% | +4.4 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 24.9% | 16.4% | +8.5 pp |
| South | 18.8% | 20.3% | -1.5 pp |
| North | 17.6% | 17.0% | +0.6 pp |
| East | 5.9% | 7.4% | -1.5 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in January 2015 was 7,277.26 million ISK (7.28 billion ISK), compared to 5,489.52 million ISK in January 2014.
This represents a +32.6% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 20,542 overnight stays in hotels in January 2015, up 3.1% from 19,923 in 2014.
Data Sources
- Overnight Stays: Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) — foreign and domestic guest nights in registered hotels
- Occupancy Rates: Statistics Iceland — room occupancy as % of available hotel capacity
- Card Spending: Central Bank of Iceland (Seðlabanki Íslands) — foreign debit/credit card turnover